“What’s up, Rube?”

“Have you heard from Mark since he relieved me?” she said.

“Mark? No, not since he got sick down at that base you guys were at.”

She stopped abruptly as she almost went through the red light.

“Hey, wait. You feeling okay? You’re not sick, too, are you?” Wally said.

What the hell was going on? she thought.

“Ruby?” Wally said.

“No, I’m fine,” Ruby said. “What’s the matter with Mark?”

“Apparently, he’s got a really bad flu or something, they said. He can’t even come home because of a quarantine now. Something like that. That’s what the boss told me. I thought you knew.”

“Did we send another team?” she said.

“No. Jackie and Irrizarri just got back. They wouldn’t even let them on the base. They’re postponing the entire investigation until after the doctors clear the base.”

Ruby remembered the diver’s video. The old polished businessman. The tougher-looking middle-aged guy. The younger scruffy kid with the headphones. The black guy with the hoodie.

What in hell was on that plane? she thought as her phone started pulsing with a new incoming call.

“Thanks, Wally. I’ll call you back,” Ruby said abruptly.

“Hello, is this Lieutenant Everett?” said a new voice.

It was a man’s voice. An older man now. Not the deck ape.

A horn suddenly honked from behind her because the light had turned green.

Ruby screeched off the strip road into an empty Chick-fil-A parking lot and stopped.

“Who the hell is this?” Ruby said.

“My name is Eric Wheldon. I’m a reporter. I got your number from the Surmount crew. You’re in Naval Safety, right? You went to investigate the crash in the Bahamas?”

She suddenly felt dizzy. How could this be happening? What was she supposed to say?

“I don’t know how you got my number,” Ruby said, “but I can’t help you, sir. Please don’t call me again.”

“Lieutenant,” Wheldon said calmly. “Please don’t hang up. I know. A reporter calls out of the blue. Panic time. But it’s not like that. Let me explain.”

Ruby sighed.

“I used to work for the State Department,” Wheldon said. “I quit when I witnessed some very corrupt behavior by the federal government. Then I worked as a reporter for a major paper and saw a lot of covering up of that same exact corruption, so I quit that, too. Since then, I’ve been reporting on my own and helping whistle-blowers to get their stories out to the public.”

“I’m sorry,” Ruby said. “This is too much. I didn’t get any sleep last night. I’m about to drop. I—”

“I understand,” Wheldon said. “All right if I call you back this afternoon? It’ll give you time to see my work on my YouTube channel. Bottom line, I think something serious is going on with that ship and crew. Especially with the rescue diver who saw the plane. They seem to have renditioned him.”

“They what?” Ruby said.

“Taken him off base to a secret black site. A different country, most likely, for forced interrogation.”